The online network X has caused major backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by taking off their clothing.
Numerous examples have been seen where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to generate pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying images of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
